Emptiness Part I at New Ruskin College
www.NewRuskinCollege.com
Emptiness Part I
06-02-05, 08-06-05
“Smiles and lies”
--- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Ah, now I get it! I told you that I am a little slow on the uptake. Betrayal! They pretended to reason when in fact they were only posturing in the mass media.
I could not figure out why the “Liars for Christ” (see Lecture Notes: 04-21-05) would ignore the CAT scan. If only as a debating technique you should not simply ignore an important piece of evidence. You have to say something about it. At least mention it! For example the “medical ethicist”, Wesley J. Smith, author of “The Culture of Death”, (and the husband of the columnist Debra Saunders), said that people who rely on the CAT scan for information on the condition of the patient Schiavo might be “red faced” if after the autopsy the patient Schiavo’s brain turns out not to be damaged.
Well yeah, ‘red faced’ I guess. But at least Wesley J. Smith, was trying to deal with the evidence. He did not just ignore it as did Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, etc.; Glenn Beck even denied that there was a CAT scan, saying: “Wouldn’t you at least want a CAT scan before you kill her?” (What a thoughtful man. But as long as he is allowed to park his fat ass behind the syndicated microphone his inanities will be heard across the nation; thoughtful or un-thoughtful.) Isn’t America great? And this is precisely what makes America great in Glenn Beck’s, and Sean Hannity’s, and Rush Limbaugh’s egomaniacal eyes. Not that we are free to engage in thoughtful discussion, but that they are allowed to control a national microphone. Power!
Yes power and money. Imagine how easy it is for them to delude themselves. They receive enormous amounts of money. And others, equally confused call them, write to them, “I completely agree . . .” they are told. And they do truly believe it. But it is not the thoughtfulness of the discussion which they prize but that they control it! This is America!; in their eyes. (see Lecture Notes: 03-26-05, Lecture Notes: 03-24-05, Hate Radio Talk Show Host’s Brain, Lecture Notes: 04-21-05, The End, (Prerequisite Lecture Notes: 04-16-05))
Now we know. We were not really debating. It only looked, sounded, like an intellectual discussion, with reasoning, examination of the facts, argumentation and persuasion. It was more of a carnival? Well, yes, but something more . . . something religious? Yes! Of course, a passion play. It was not really a discussion at all, it was a passion play, a display of religious devotion.
For example in the months since the media pageant where are the proposals to change the law? Where are the model statutes? In deed where have the ‘liars for Christ’ been as one patient after another has had their respirator turned off, or the feeding tube removed? Dr. Edel asked this question on his radio program about a patient in New York, a child with brain damage, disconnected and . . . ? Listen . . . ? No, not a word. Why?
The patient Schiavo was made a cause celeb, but no other? How can they just drop the issue? No proposals for change? The Governor of Florida, Bush, did jump into action ordering a criminal investigation of the husband for his alleged failure to immediately call for an ambulance . . . fifteen years ago. What should we think of Mr. Bush? Was he acting in good faith? Why did he wait until the day the patient Schiavo’s autopsy was released. (The autopsy confirmed what had been deduced from the CAT scan: brain death years before.)
And isn’t that politics today? Dishonesty? How do we know when anyone is acting in good faith? In economics we call it inflation. In our political economy everyone of us is capable of manufacturing a “position,” a “claim.” We can strike up a pose. Pretend a “grievance” or some “high moral purpose.” We can disconnect our father’s life support, as did Congressman Tom Delay, and then we can intervene in the case of the patient Schiavo pretending that we should never give up on any patient.
I ask again, where is the proposed statute which will solve the problem Mr. Delay claimed to have identified? He had the Congress pass a law allowing Federal Judicial Review for this one case, (Schiavo), but in the months since . . . nothing else has been proposed. Mr. Bush made his one desultory stab at instigating a “criminal investigation” during the same news cycle that the autopsy was reported but has since then fallen back into lethargy.
Now our friends on the Left will cross their arms across their chests and say “unhu”! They think the Right did this. And they have missed an important point. This is the emptiness I mentioned. Not the Right, all of us, humanity. People.
To think that Mr. Delay craftily manipulated the “Right to Life” crowd and deliberately mislead them; to think that the Republican Party regularly takes advantage of the “Right to Life” movement’s credulity, encouraging them to believe that abolition of abortion; or statutes making mandatory extraordinary measures to keep every last one of God’s creatures alive; or the outlawing of nucleic cell transfer, (cloning); that all of this is just one election away if only they will reach down into their hearts and wallets one more time . . . well, to think that all of this is done deliberately is scary.
But there is something even more scary. Emptiness. What if all of this is not crafty deliberate misdirection? What if Mr. Delay actually thinks he is on the side of the angels?
Or, and this is the real point what if this “inflation” in our political economy is inevitable? (This is why we need the free market. We need to keep an accurate record of what our comrades “really think.” Not just what they say they want but how they actually spend their money.)
What if all God’s children, Mr. Delay, yes, and everyone else is simply acting out one feeble idea after another; making up some rationalization or other when some glaring defect is made known to them, apologizing here, lost in blind ambition there, lost?
This is the Emptiness. There is no “Logic,” no “Reason” no “Philosophy” or “Religion” that guides you. You are floating, acting out one idea after the other as they come to you, working your mind the way a blind man works his cane, tapping, poking, trying to make sense of the echoes, lost in the darkness.
This is the Emptiness.
Don Imus used his influence to destroy my life, interfering with my employment at GAB Robins. Michael Weiner had my notebook less than 24 hours after it was burglarized from the Colonial Motel. My brother Thomas Joseph, (named after our illustrious grandfather), kept for himself the few dollars my father left me. And the countless others who knew about the burglary, the interference with my employment, the vandalism, the fifteen years of harassment, knew and did nothing, said nothing, kept their silence. And again, they had their reasons for not coming forward. They had their justifications. (Some reasoned that I had brought on all this myself. For example Barbara Simpson argued that I should not have kept a notebook in the first place. Then it could not have been burgled. (And see she is sincere. Your minds naturally accept these rationalizations. It is human nature. (“We did not know . . . yes we saw the black smoke coming from the chimneys but . . . but we did not know.”)))
You might think that these villains know their villainy. Know it from the inside as it were. They do not. Mrs. Jack Swanson boasts “Oh, I’m vicious.” You might think that this statement evidences some self-awareness, that she knows she is vicious. She does not. They all of them, like Mr. Delay, and Mr. Bush, have some justification, some excuse, some “reason.” Or like the hate radio types, they conclude that what is good for them is good for America. God bless us. They are lost.
And this is our state. This is what causes the “inflation” in our political economy. Looking at history you wonder how could they have been so mislead? What were they thinking? This is the explanation: Emptiness.
www.NewRuskinCollege.com
Emptiness Part I
06-02-05, 08-06-05
“Smiles and lies”
--- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Ah, now I get it! I told you that I am a little slow on the uptake. Betrayal! They pretended to reason when in fact they were only posturing in the mass media.
I could not figure out why the “Liars for Christ” (see Lecture Notes: 04-21-05) would ignore the CAT scan. If only as a debating technique you should not simply ignore an important piece of evidence. You have to say something about it. At least mention it! For example the “medical ethicist”, Wesley J. Smith, author of “The Culture of Death”, (and the husband of the columnist Debra Saunders), said that people who rely on the CAT scan for information on the condition of the patient Schiavo might be “red faced” if after the autopsy the patient Schiavo’s brain turns out not to be damaged.
Well yeah, ‘red faced’ I guess. But at least Wesley J. Smith, was trying to deal with the evidence. He did not just ignore it as did Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Rush Limbaugh, etc.; Glenn Beck even denied that there was a CAT scan, saying: “Wouldn’t you at least want a CAT scan before you kill her?” (What a thoughtful man. But as long as he is allowed to park his fat ass behind the syndicated microphone his inanities will be heard across the nation; thoughtful or un-thoughtful.) Isn’t America great? And this is precisely what makes America great in Glenn Beck’s, and Sean Hannity’s, and Rush Limbaugh’s egomaniacal eyes. Not that we are free to engage in thoughtful discussion, but that they are allowed to control a national microphone. Power!
Yes power and money. Imagine how easy it is for them to delude themselves. They receive enormous amounts of money. And others, equally confused call them, write to them, “I completely agree . . .” they are told. And they do truly believe it. But it is not the thoughtfulness of the discussion which they prize but that they control it! This is America!; in their eyes. (see Lecture Notes: 03-26-05, Lecture Notes: 03-24-05, Hate Radio Talk Show Host’s Brain, Lecture Notes: 04-21-05, The End, (Prerequisite Lecture Notes: 04-16-05))
Now we know. We were not really debating. It only looked, sounded, like an intellectual discussion, with reasoning, examination of the facts, argumentation and persuasion. It was more of a carnival? Well, yes, but something more . . . something religious? Yes! Of course, a passion play. It was not really a discussion at all, it was a passion play, a display of religious devotion.
For example in the months since the media pageant where are the proposals to change the law? Where are the model statutes? In deed where have the ‘liars for Christ’ been as one patient after another has had their respirator turned off, or the feeding tube removed? Dr. Edel asked this question on his radio program about a patient in New York, a child with brain damage, disconnected and . . . ? Listen . . . ? No, not a word. Why?
The patient Schiavo was made a cause celeb, but no other? How can they just drop the issue? No proposals for change? The Governor of Florida, Bush, did jump into action ordering a criminal investigation of the husband for his alleged failure to immediately call for an ambulance . . . fifteen years ago. What should we think of Mr. Bush? Was he acting in good faith? Why did he wait until the day the patient Schiavo’s autopsy was released. (The autopsy confirmed what had been deduced from the CAT scan: brain death years before.)
And isn’t that politics today? Dishonesty? How do we know when anyone is acting in good faith? In economics we call it inflation. In our political economy everyone of us is capable of manufacturing a “position,” a “claim.” We can strike up a pose. Pretend a “grievance” or some “high moral purpose.” We can disconnect our father’s life support, as did Congressman Tom Delay, and then we can intervene in the case of the patient Schiavo pretending that we should never give up on any patient.
I ask again, where is the proposed statute which will solve the problem Mr. Delay claimed to have identified? He had the Congress pass a law allowing Federal Judicial Review for this one case, (Schiavo), but in the months since . . . nothing else has been proposed. Mr. Bush made his one desultory stab at instigating a “criminal investigation” during the same news cycle that the autopsy was reported but has since then fallen back into lethargy.
Now our friends on the Left will cross their arms across their chests and say “unhu”! They think the Right did this. And they have missed an important point. This is the emptiness I mentioned. Not the Right, all of us, humanity. People.
To think that Mr. Delay craftily manipulated the “Right to Life” crowd and deliberately mislead them; to think that the Republican Party regularly takes advantage of the “Right to Life” movement’s credulity, encouraging them to believe that abolition of abortion; or statutes making mandatory extraordinary measures to keep every last one of God’s creatures alive; or the outlawing of nucleic cell transfer, (cloning); that all of this is just one election away if only they will reach down into their hearts and wallets one more time . . . well, to think that all of this is done deliberately is scary.
But there is something even more scary. Emptiness. What if all of this is not crafty deliberate misdirection? What if Mr. Delay actually thinks he is on the side of the angels?
Or, and this is the real point what if this “inflation” in our political economy is inevitable? (This is why we need the free market. We need to keep an accurate record of what our comrades “really think.” Not just what they say they want but how they actually spend their money.)
What if all God’s children, Mr. Delay, yes, and everyone else is simply acting out one feeble idea after another; making up some rationalization or other when some glaring defect is made known to them, apologizing here, lost in blind ambition there, lost?
This is the Emptiness. There is no “Logic,” no “Reason” no “Philosophy” or “Religion” that guides you. You are floating, acting out one idea after the other as they come to you, working your mind the way a blind man works his cane, tapping, poking, trying to make sense of the echoes, lost in the darkness.
This is the Emptiness.
Don Imus used his influence to destroy my life, interfering with my employment at GAB Robins. Michael Weiner had my notebook less than 24 hours after it was burglarized from the Colonial Motel. My brother Thomas Joseph, (named after our illustrious grandfather), kept for himself the few dollars my father left me. And the countless others who knew about the burglary, the interference with my employment, the vandalism, the fifteen years of harassment, knew and did nothing, said nothing, kept their silence. And again, they had their reasons for not coming forward. They had their justifications. (Some reasoned that I had brought on all this myself. For example Barbara Simpson argued that I should not have kept a notebook in the first place. Then it could not have been burgled. (And see she is sincere. Your minds naturally accept these rationalizations. It is human nature. (“We did not know . . . yes we saw the black smoke coming from the chimneys but . . . but we did not know.”)))
You might think that these villains know their villainy. Know it from the inside as it were. They do not. Mrs. Jack Swanson boasts “Oh, I’m vicious.” You might think that this statement evidences some self-awareness, that she knows she is vicious. She does not. They all of them, like Mr. Delay, and Mr. Bush, have some justification, some excuse, some “reason.” Or like the hate radio types, they conclude that what is good for them is good for America. God bless us. They are lost.
And this is our state. This is what causes the “inflation” in our political economy. Looking at history you wonder how could they have been so mislead? What were they thinking? This is the explanation: Emptiness.
www.NewRuskinCollege.com
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